Card Types
Card type is a characteristic in the type line on every Magic card. It can be found between the supertype and the subtype if those are available. ;Example: is a Legendary Planeswalker — Jace. "Legendary" is the card's supertype, "Jace" is the subtype and "Planeswalker" is the card type. A lot of spells and decks do take influence on the card type or create synergies i.e. "tribal" decks. There are also spells that can change or expand the card type of a card. Other objects like tokens do have a card type although they do not count as a card. Card Types Artifact Artifact is a type of permanent and may also be a creature, or an artifact creature. That means that anything that affects an artifact ''or ''a creature can be used on an artifact creature. So if you have , you can use it on an artifact creature. Creature Creature is a type of permanent and may have one or more subtype (e.g. Elf, Cat, Dragon, Beast). All creatures have a power and a toughness and are the only card type that can attack or block. Some creatures have power and toughness depending on a certain thing, like . Many creatures have abilities that boost their value and make them more powerful. Enchantment Enchantment is a type of permanent and may have the subtype Aura. Unlike the similar permanent, the artifact, enchantments are colored and never need to tap, but can have activated abilities. Instant Instant is a type of nonpermanent. Instants and spells with Flash are the only card types that can be played on either player's turn. Land Land is a type of permanent and the most common source for mana. Lands may have additional subtypes. The basic lands are , , , and and have the supertype "Basic Land". All other lands are considered to be Non-basic Lands. A land may be played only once per turn and only by the active player (the player whose turn it is) on his or her turn. Planeswalker Planeswalker is a type of permanent and may have one planeswalker subtype. All planeswalkers have a loyalty and multiple abilities that add or subtract loyalty. Only one of these abilities may be played per turn. Sorcery Sorcery is a type of nonpermanent. Once they resolved and have made their effect they go directly to your graveyard. Sorceries can only be played during the main phases by the active player (the player whose turn it is). Subtype Some cards have subtypes as well as card types. Creature subtypes don't always affect the game, but some subtypes are very important. Examples of subtypes include Equipment, Aura, and Angel. Supertype There are four different supertypes: basic, legendary, snow, and world. The super type world is only found on older cards. Basic Some lands are basic, such as . The supertype basic means that a player may have any number of that card in his or her deck. Legendary Some permanents have the supertype legendary. There may be only one of any legendary permanent with the same name under a player's control at any one time. If two or more legendary permanents with the same name are in play under one player's control at the same time, the player chooses and sacrifices one. This is known as the legend rule. Comprehensive Rules